Features
You have a brilliant idea for a new business, and part of the brilliance is taking advantage of where the world is now. But how long will that world remain the same? Every startup needs to consider how things might change because of curve balls such as pandemics, tariff wars, and new technology.
UK SME confidence in growth opportunities is currently riding high. Today, more than three-quarters (87%) of SME decision-makers plan to invest in their businesses in 2025 and two-thirds (66%) expect their sales to rise over the next six months – a notable uptick in sentiment.
Risk management has long been the Achilles’ heel of business strategy. Even with sophisticated forecasting models, businesses have often struggled to identify and action potential disruptions before they have impacted performance.
When startups think about scaling, their minds often go straight to funding rounds, growth metrics, and major product launches. But while these are all important, they’re not what determines success in new markets.
For just about any business, one of the main goals is to grow. But none are perhaps as focused and dedicated to growth as startups. When startups think about growth, they tend to focus on big-picture goals like funding rounds, new hires and expanding into fresh markets. However, one thing that is usually overlooked is their IT system.
The C-suite is undergoing a seismic transformation.
It is not news that the wealthier sections of society are more likely to live healthier and longer lives, with a study published in The Journal of Gerontology finding that at age 50, the wealthiest men in England and the US could expect to live approximately 31 additional years free from disability, while those in the poorest groups had about 22 to 23 disability-free years.
Jake Darlington, SME Manager at Sapphire Accounting, discusses the benefits of year-round taxes for small businesses and startups.
Software development is entering a new era. Vibe coding lets anyone create working applications by describing what they want in plain English – no traditional programming needed. But without proper testing, it’s a recipe for chaos.
2025 is shaping up to be a big year for femtech, startups that develop solutions for women’s health from virtual doulas like Soula to period tracking apps like Flo. The number of deals is climbing, and overall funding is on the rise. But beneath the surface, there are still barriers that could slow the industry’s momentum – and often they trace back to men. Good PR might help to overcome them.
Team performance in any workplace isn’t solely about talent or motivation. It’s also deeply rooted in the safety and wellbeing of the employees.
Scaling a startup is an exciting yet daunting challenge. While product-market fit and funding are critical, leadership is often the deciding factor between success and failure. In fact, approximately 70% of startups fail within their first 10 years, with many of these failures attributed to ‘people issues,’ including leadership challenges.
When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. When it comes to mergers and acquisitions amid Trump’s tariffs, however, it could be more like Covid. According to Iain Lownes, a partner in the Corporate Finance practice at professional services firm S&W, the pandemic could provide a guide as to what we’re likely to see in the market.
Support for regional small businesses has never been more important. The UK’s entrepreneurial community is facing mounting challenges, with the economic climate increasingly challenging following recent tax increases in particular. Business closures are at a 20-year high, economic growth has stagnated, and employers are having to make tough choices to navigate these new tax and regulatory burdens.
In business, relationships are everything. We build, create, dream, and grow, often side-by-side with people who feel more like family than colleagues.
In today’s turbulent world, marked by geopolitical instability, economic uncertainty, and unforeseen crises, the importance of adapting your business to create risk resilience, is critical.
As businesses bring teams back into the office after years of remote work, many are finding that the transition is more disruptive than anticipated. Despite good intentions – to reconnect people, foster collaboration, and rebuild culture – many return-to-office (RTO) plans are failing to deliver. In some instances, they are causing more harm than good.
For ambitious startups, 2025 is set to be remembered as a year of regulation whiplash, where rules around the world shift faster than a Series A pitch deck. The pace of AI development is shaking up business, while political turnover from London to D.C. is rewriting the rules, too.
Bees are revered for their hard work and ‘busy as a bee’ is a common theme throughout culture and society worldwide. To create a single 500 gram jar of honey, honey bees will have collectively visited approximately 2,000,000 flowers. They will have flown 88,000 kilometres and visited up to 100 flowers in a single day. Bees live their lives at a fast pace, and in the summer that’s only about thirty-four days.
A major cyberattack can send shockwaves through a business, causing severe financial, operational, and reputational damage. While some companies have managed to claw their way back, others may never fully recover. But in a world where cyber threats are a matter of “when, not if,” can businesses truly bounce back from a devastating breach?
